Saturday, February 02, 2013

Software Licenses? Huh?

The chickens finally coming home to roost:

Here is another department screw up. It seems CPD has been using
computer programs without paying for the software licenses!!! OOOPS! A
software company filed suit and the City settled for millions (Hush
Hush, maybe nobody will notice, use NATO money). As part of the
settlement, all Department computers are being re-imaged. If you have
any files stored on a computer they will be deleted. The taxpayer pays
for Police brass being cheap and inept again!!

You mean the City (and the Department) aren't supposed to buy one copy and replicate it thousands of times across the system without paying a fee? It kind of reminds us of when the City found out people were photocopying City Stickers in recent years - same concept.

This was brought to the attention of a certain chief of a certain unit with 3 initials 4 years ago by an Admin sgt who was dismissed as "crazy". He quit the job and has gone on to be successful in the private sector.

Every single thing he pointed out as a problem is coming home to roost.

There is, or was, a lot of talent in those lower ranks that is scoffed at.

I hope this costs these shitheads millions of dollars. The aforementioned Sgt would certainly testify about his notifications many years ago. I happen to know he has documentation with exact dates and names of persons notified.

Who are the people we call and get a "ticket number to have the repair guy come and tell you he doesn't do this , you gotta call for this or that team, get another ticket number, etc. didn't the city "resource" this out to some city hall connected cronie?

Remember the incident last year in 023/019 where an officer was writing a citation on a car when the owner came out with his dog and the PO ended up shooting the dog? Turns out the dog owner opened a Facebook page for the dog as reported under this post from Uptown Update:http://www.uptownupdate.com/2013/02/the-colonel-is-on-facebook.html

One of the photos on this page is of the military medal, the Purple Heart. The caption under it says "Colonel (the dog) was awarded this purple heart by a close family friend. I think he definitely earned it!" The photo isn't the problem, but the caption is.

My question is this... Is it appropriate, even in jest, to joke that this highly honored military medal should be "awarded" in this way or is my gut correct that this is HIGHLY inappropriate and disrespectful to our military men and women who have fought and died for our freedom? I never served in the military but it seems to me that this is over the line, or am I wrong?

The real question here is why are they paying a HUGE sum of money to reprogram all of the computers in the district.These are the very same computers that are broken and the techs telling us they are too old to be repaired anymore. End of life they say.Who decided to waste the money on reprograming computers that are broken and will no longer be repaired ??As they fail the next step is the recycler. But we pay to have them reprogramed ?So why do we waste the money that could be used to replace them on re-programming them?

The real question here is why are they paying a HUGE sum of money to reprogram all of our computers in the district.The very same computers that are broken and the techs told us they are too old to be repaired anymore.End of life.Who decided to waste the money on reprograming computers that are broken and will no longer be repaired ??As they fail the next step will be the dumpster. So why do we waste money that could be used to replace them on re-programming them?

Government's inefficiency at it's finest.City/CPD where Clout rules common sense does not

This was brought to the attention of a certain chief of a certain unit with 3 initials 4 years ago by an Admin sgt who was dismissed as "crazy". He quit the job and has gone on to be successful in the private sector.

Every single thing he pointed out as a problem is coming home to roost.

There is, or was, a lot of talent in those lower ranks that is scoffed at.

I hope this costs these shitheads millions of dollars. The aforementioned Sgt would certainly testify about his notifications many years ago. I happen to know he has documentation with exact dates and names of persons notified.

MORE incompetency....

2/02/2013 12:21:00 AM

There is a number you can call to snitch on companies that use pirated software and multiple installations of the same program. You get a reward for reporting them.Maybe that retired sergeant got a nice, fat check for making that phone call.

What do expect from this dump of a city? This is the same department that uses cardboard beat tags, same department where the squad cars have over 150,000 miles bad brakes, no steering, bald tires, burning oil fumes blowing in the cabin, no heat/air - the list goes on. If it weren't so pathetic it would be comical that a mayor who calls this town a world class city allows this kind of neglected broken equipment to be used by the first responders. Last night we had to choose between the only two cars available- one that blew heat but also burnt oil fumes, or one with broken steering and brake warning light that went off every time you depressed them. What a joke!

This is one of the reasons Huberman, the Genius who Barb, Babs McDonald touted as the smartest Gay guy on earth left with his tail between his legs. In addition to providing CPD with an unbelivably screwed up system, there was talk of Huberman accepting favors and underhanded moves with respect to the system providers. He should have been indicted, but because he had something on Daley so he walked.

If Joe-Citizen had any clue how poor our equipment is, they'd demand tax money back. They updated CLEAR about one year ago and it's horrible. They could have saved a lot of money sticking with the one they already had.

No computers, no reports. No reports, no crime. This might be the most well thought out plan in this departments history. Way to go garry you have vitually eliminated all crime in the city! Absolutely brilliant!

Now can we get some real software??? Or new hardware? Windows 98 and Xp 2000 are a tad out dated. I read that Microsoft no longer supports them. Computers with 512Gb ram are uselss. Internet explorers outdated years ago. I use a Google Chrome browser if its availiable. Outdated Adobe files. (now we know why)

Browsers that cant run or open attachments. I wait to run Intranet service for minutes at a time. CHRIS runs slow. A decent Virus scanner would be nice.

Watch out, city didn't pay Xerox or renew the contract. They won't be coming out to repair those copiers but you can keep the machines when they break down. Re imaging, company got money for every computer they put hands on but that contract / project had to be completed by last Monday. Don't matter what they messed up, or what you lost. You have nice day. Now get out there and get me my money. Like a crack ho, write some tickets, make the city some money. Treat you like shit, cut your benefits. But someone always gets paid with dope money or city contracts. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I've seen this problem with lots of state agencies and municipalities. They're either enjoying paying the licensing fees for Microsoft products or else they're too afraid to switch to open-source software like Linux or BSD, both of which are very robust and FREE to put on as many computers as you'd care to.

OTNo post about tony Carothers being forced to retire Thursday? Word was he was driven to benefits management and told he was retiring whether he liked it or not! Wonder if there is an indictment coming soon or if this was the plea deal???Word is Glen Evans from 3 will be new XO of area central under his former 6th dist boss, Eddie johnson. This will give glen more freedom to be a street guy again.

Last night we had to choose between the only two cars available- one that blew heat but also burnt oil fumes, or one with broken steering and brake warning light that went off every time you depressed them. What a joke!

Anonymous said...What do expect from this dump of a city? This is the same department that uses cardboard beat tags, same department where the squad cars have over 150,000 miles bad brakes, no steering, bald tires, burning oil fumes blowing in the cabin, no heat/air - the list goes on. If it weren't so pathetic it would be comical that a mayor who calls this town a world class city allows this kind of neglected broken equipment to be used by the first responders. Last night we had to choose between the only two cars available- one that blew heat but also burnt oil fumes, or one with broken steering and brake warning light that went off every time you depressed them. What a joke!

2/02/2013 10:20:00 AM

You have cardboard beat tags! Holy smoke, where do you get the cardboard, I have to use paper.

Our computers ar work are in a constant state of disrepair. Several have had hard drive failures, and a Powersupply unit replaced. Either of these items and an IT tech. cost more to replace than it is worth. I looked on Craigslist for a used Dell Optiplex 520 and they are selling for 50 dollars. With Windows XP and more than 512Mb ram. Maybe the city can save it self some money by buying up all the outdated computer equiptment no one else wants to use anymore. At least it would be an upgrade for us. By the way SCC let 744-Data know that I have a slightly used Commodore 64 for sale cheap.

There are underground updates to Windows 98 that will enable it to run a lot of current software on older machines and they are free. But it would take someone with a lot of skill and knowledge to install …..

"And whoever posted about 'ticket numbers', you're so right. Three months after I called for something I got a callback. I said, "are you kidding me"?""

Ticket numbers are issued by Unisys.They are the contracted help. Techs you talk to on the phone and the ones that come out all work for them. The only thing we can do is keep inundating them with ticket numbers and call them back in a couple days and ask the status of said numbers. I finally got 1 (out of 2 problems) fixed after spending 5+ hours on the phone with them 'remoted' into my computer. I'll be calling back to have the 2nd problem addressed. I expect it to take another 5 hours. But hey, I can get paid with my feet up on my desk while the impossible to understand tech works on it, so whatever. And NONE of this was a problem before they 'fixed' them by re-imaging them.

Anonymous said...If you still have a windows 98 pdt you are using obsolete shitrest of city was updated several years ago

Hey, watch it! Our lockup is still using the original ICAM computer (anyone remember that system??)that was installed in our old station ~15 years ago.

2/03/2013 12:46:00 PM

I wonder if there are any of those computers we had in the cars 27 years ago which could display 4 lines of text on the screen in red letters and a 15 minute wait to run a name or plate.

That was in Rogers Park. The Evanston Police monitored our zone and one Evanston cop showed me their computers. Modern, by comparison, and they got a name check or license plate check back within 5 seconds.

I felt like we were using single shot muskets and Evanston was using laser guided missiles. And the instruction manual for those computers? Notes written in pen and magic marker on the wall behind the desk. Want to access LEADS or do a Soundex? Read the appropriate instruction that was handwritten on the wall.

Once the place was painted we were fucked. I had better luck meeting with an Evanston Police car and asking them to run a name or plate for me. That was 1985-87.

Not much has changed, shit still obsolete, broken, rag tag, good for shit and bosses good for shit also. My entire career and the goddamned Chicago Police Department is as inefficient and corrupt as it was back then.

Fly on the Wall said...Our computers ar work are in a constant state of disrepair. Several have had hard drive failures, and a Powersupply unit replaced. Either of these items and an IT tech. cost more to replace than it is worth. I looked on Craigslist for a used Dell Optiplex 520 and they are selling for 50 dollars. With Windows XP and more than 512Mb ram. Maybe the city can save it self some money by buying up all the outdated computer equiptment no one else wants to use anymore. At least it would be an upgrade for us. By the way SCC let 744-Data know that I have a slightly used Commodore 64 for sale cheap.

Anonymous said...Since we are using programs that are 10 or 15 years old, I just assumed the City was getting them for free.

2/02/2013 08:39:00 AM

People in third world countries contribute them to us so we can have something to work on. Sort of like those CARE packages that we used to send to the rest of the world only now they are sending them to us.